Before seeking professional help for a phobia, it is always a good idea to first make an appointment to see your primary care physician. Anytime you have feelings of anxiety over a situation or object, you first want to ensure that it’s not caused by a medical reason. You always want to find out if it’s in fact a phobia or just something that happens once of twice and then goes away. If you have noticed the feelings return often or in many specific situations, you could be suffering from a phobia. The main thing to consider is that just because you have an uneasy feeling n your stomach or feel like you’ve had a panic attack, you have to ensure it’s not from a medical reason before seeking professional help from a licensed therapist.
Your primary care physician can do a checkup on you and assess whether or not there is a medical reason for your feelings of anxiety, such as a heart condition. Once your primary care physician rules out any possible medical conditions that may be the cause of the trouble, they may refer you to a specialist. A licensed professional therapist may often be a psychologist, whom will specialize in panic and anxiety disorders as well as phobia treatments.
After seeking an opinion from a licensed therapist, they can determine whether or not your anxiety is being caused by a phobia or something else. If you are suffering from a true phobia, they may discuss with you some treatment options available and ways in which you can practice self-help methods on your own as well. Most therapists will suggest self-help methods long with professional treatment to increase the likelihood of successfully overcoming the phobia, although depending on the severity, self-help methods may be the only option suggested.
In extreme phobia cases, the therapist will likely suggest regular therapy sessions until the phobia is overcome. Therapy sessions can be as short as 1-4 sessions or as long as months or years of regular meetings, This will all depend on your level of severity with your phobia and the ways in which you react to your triggers, as well as how often you encounter these triggers and how much it effects your daily life. If you encounter your triggers regularly, you may need therapy more often and close together until you have regained control over yourself in these situations. If you encounter your triggers very little or your reactions are minimal, you may only be required to come a few short sessions or they may be spaced out more than someone suffering from intensely.
The important thing to remember is that phobias are common and that many of them do not even affect your daily life, although this is not reason enough to avoid treatment options. It is in your best interests health-wise to attempt to overcome your phobia as early as possible in order to live a full and rich life without worry. If your phobia is directly affecting your every day life, treatment may be even more evident. If your phobia causes extreme or disabling fear or anxiety and you find yourself avoiding situations in which you will encounter your trigger, it may be time to seek professional help, especially if it interferes with your regular routines in life. If you realize your fear is irrational and you’ve noticed the phobia has existed for 6 months or more, professional therapy is a very possible option in treating and overcoming your phobia.
